1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to hook assemblies that attach to a user's hand or arm. More particularly, the present invention relates to hook assemblies that increase the gripping strength of a user.
2. Prior Art Description
Many modern day tools and lawn equipment are powered by small gasoline engines. Examples of such equipment include lawn mowers, chainsaws, power washers, grass trimmers, and the like. Most of such equipment use small gasoline engines that are started by pulling a pull cord. When the pull cord is pulled, it causes the gasoline engine to turn and the spark plug to fire. This starts the engine so that it can run on its own.
In order to help a person grasp a pull cord, most pull cords terminate with a rigid T-shaped handle. T-shaped handles vary in size depending upon the size of the gasoline engine being started. Larger engines tend to have longer pull cords and larger handles than do smaller ones.
As anyone with experience will likely agree, when a small gasoline engine is started with a pull cord, the pull cord typically must be pulled more than once. In many cases, the pull cord must be pulled several times. Furthermore, the pull cord must be pulled very rapidly so that the gasoline engine can be caused to turn with enough speed to start the engine. As a consequence, a significant amount of physical strength and endurance is needed to start many pull cord engines.
It is often the case that a user has enough arm strength to pull a pull cord multiple times. However, the user may lack the hand strength to maintain a grip on the T-shaped handle during the pulls. The result is that a user often loses his/her grip and releases the handle of the pull cord before the pull cord is fully drawn. Without the pull cord being fully drawn, the engine has a very small chance of starting.
In the prior art, there are many devices that are designed to strap to a person's hand and increase their gripping power. Often such devices provide a metal hook for engaging an object. The presence of the hook eliminates the need for the hand to grip any object that can be engaged with the hook. Such prior art is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,412 to Meeko, entitled Weight Lifting Grips and U.S. Pat. No. 2,278,610 to Brownson, entitled Bundle Picker.
Although many hook attachments exist for hands, these prior art hooks are poorly designed to use with engaging the T-shaped handle of an engine's pull cord. Furthermore, even if such prior art hooks could engage a pull cord handle, the presence of the hook obstructs the hand. The hook must therefore be detached from the hand so that the hand is free to manipulate the equipment being used. Having to attach and detach a hook from a hand each time a pull cord engine is started and stopped is both inconvenient and impractical.
A need therefore exists for a hook device that is specifically designed to engage the handle of a pull cord engine. A need also exists for a hook that can be folded into an unobtrusive position without the need of having to detach the hook from the user's hand. These needs are met by the present invention as described and claimed below.